The Program
The Program is a Helian endeavor to breed more Orredin through the use of humans, to compensate for the recent Orredin inability to breed more of their own. It is primarily concerned with bringing human men who show great acumen in mercenary companies into the Purple Guard and having them impregnate Orredin women. The other combination of genders does happen, but because of a combination of Orredin women not wanting to share power, Orredin men not wanting to allow new blood in except through the military, and biology, they can't just hire 400,000 whores to propagate the species. They're more willing to "do it right" and engineer a race of Gods. Limitations This isn't a one-generational thing. You need multiple successive generations of Orredin-Human admixture to create the Purple Hybrids who are so prized. So they have been doing this for a long time, and they continue culling weak subjects from the system in each generation. They go through a lot of bodies for each Purple they get. Flaws Some things can be tested. Magic and Burdinadin technology have both made some things testable, particularly undesirable traits that they're trying to axe from the gene pool. However, the notion that traits might be polygenic and skip generations was only recently realized, and resulted in some humiliating cracks in the program's otherwise spotless record. One of the most recent new Orredin had a hairlip. The child was only spared thanks to the brave actions of the Captain of the Imperial Guard, who reminded all present that their oaths prevented ANY Orredin, no matter who, to be killed by the hand of another Orredin except in self defense. The child was instead altered with expensive pyromancy, shuffled away to a desk job in the Imperial Library, where he is actually quite popular. Women Dinnic racial characteristics are matrilineal. Starting with an Orredin woman really speeds the process along. It can be done with human women, but it takes longer, and there's more chance of a trait not being inherited, which is a one way ticket to the ground floor. The fast way. Also, Orredin society tends to be matriarchal in the first place, and bringing a bunch of humans into the system muddies the water from a genealogical perspective. They do allow women into the Purple Guard, they just hold them to the same recruitment standards as the males (because, in the Orredin mind, all humans are good for is violence, and trying to breed a human for gentle or intellectual tasks is a laughable proposition) but it does happen. They even try to "poach" martially inclined women into the Guard, offering them huge quantities of money and other incentives to join. Sarah Gizka herself was actually sent an invitation, and showed up to the recruitment center in The Dark. Unfortunately, King had also been invited (maybe. He might've just heard she was going to be there.) Things went from awkward to violent as they were standing in line, and the two were expelled from the program. Politics The Eugenics program revolves around the Purple Guard. These days, that institution has taken on political overtones, and it's almost impossible to qualify for the program without having served in the mercenary army. Obviously a lot fewer women make the cut than men, both because there are fewer of them that combine the Jojo-tier robustness and martial skill that is necessary to qualify, but also because women are harder to convince to fling themselves into pike formations in return for a distant promise of sex with an elf. Category:Science & Culture